PALMYRA TWP. — Five Blissfield Community Schools students were taken to ProMedica Bixby Hospital in Adrian for treatment of cuts and bruises after a tree broke and the top part of it fell on a school bus at 7:20 a.m. Thursday on Gorman Road just west of Crockett Highway, district Superintendent Scott Moellenberndt said.

Four of those injured were middle school students and one was an elementary school student, Moellenberndt said. A couple of the students required stitches for cuts, he said.

Three of the students were transported by Palmyra Township Fire Department ambulance and two were transported by Madison Township Fire Department ambulance, according to Madison Township fire personnel.

The tree, which Moellenberndt said was 3 to 31⁄2 feet in diameter, fell on the bus just above the driver's side, front window, shattered that window, rolled along the top of the bus and shattered the three rear windows on the driver's side, he said.

The tree was one of a group of trees on the north side of the road, all of which appear to be dead, Moellenberndt said.

There were 29 students on the bus at the time the tree fell on it, he said.

Another bus was brought to the scene to transport the uninjured students to school, Moellenberndt said.

The bus was new and the school had taken possession of it two to three months ago, he said. Moellenberndt said the damage to the bus was "significant."